EVE Online | Features

tech level 2 Tech Level 2 (TL2) Tech Level 2 (TL2) introduces new possibilities into the world of EVE for manufacturing and researching. A variety of new TL2 blueprints are available for creating these new items. TL2 goods are generally more complex than their TL1 predecessors and, as such, contain different ingredients than minerals alone. The blueprints are available via Research Agents, another feature added in the T2 expansion. TL2 blueprints may also have extra requirements for manufacturing, copying, or research. The requirements can be investigated by using the Info window. In order to manufacture using a TL2 blueprint, additional skills or tools may be necessary. Tools are items now needed to complete a manufacturing or research activity. These tools can be damaged when used in a research or manufacturing job and, subsequently, may need to be repaired from time to time. These component changes will also be reflected during recycling of T2 items. An additional point of interest to manufacturers is that the minerals needed to build standard afterburners and micro-warp drives (MWD's) have been decreased. They are now cheaper than ever to create.
new agent features Missions/Agents The agent system is now standing based. This means players will generally find it a lot easier to acquire agents than before. To be able to receive missions and access agent services, a character must have the appropriate standing towards that agent, his corporation or his faction. For example, if you have 0 in standing towards Lai Dai corporation, then you will be able to access all Lai Dai corporation Level 1 agents of a certain quality and below. Once you have sufficiently raised your standing, access to a higher quality Level 1 agent will be granted until finally level 2 agents are available. We believe this is a much better and more flexible agent system, allowing players to build up a network of high level agents more quickly than before. All players' standings have been halved across the board; however, if you had access to a level 3 or 2 agent in the old system, then you will automatically receive enough personal standing with him to be able to retain that particular agent's services. To see which agents you have the best standings with, check the Standings table in your character sheet. A player's standing toward an agent, faction or corporation will slowly decay if nothing is done to maintain it. The best way to maintain your standing is by doing missions. Research jobs do not benefit your standing and you may declining or quit them without penalizing your standing. [Note: Declining or quitting a standard agent mission will negatively affect your standing.] The Jovian Empire and Concord factions have discontinued agent services, for now, and are no longer available. Those who finished missions for either of these factions will receive adequate standings with an accessible agent of a valid faction. High personal standing allows the player to use them despite a low corp/faction standing. To find them, check the Standings table in your character sheet. All missions are now declinable and quittable. As mentioned above, ignoring, declining or quitting a standard agent mission will lower standings, research agent missions will not. Tech Level 2 original blueprints are available through research agents or by purchasing from other players who have recieved them through these agents. The research agents help the player research a specific technology and eventually discover a blueprint. Blueprint discoveries are a fairly rare and random event, but players with a high amount of research points are more likely to make a discovery. Research points are gradually acquired while the research process has been activated by the player's agent. Skills (skill of the player), standings (player standing toward his agent or agent's corporation/faction) and level + quality of the agent affect the rate at which the player receives research points. Research cannot be started unless the player has the required skills. Players with advanced scientific skills will obviously have a big advantage, as they should. While research is in progress, your agent may occasionally ask request help for various reasons. This is a help mission. When an agent issues a help mission, the player will still be eligible to make a discovery, though he will no longer receive research points. The distribution of research points will resume once you have either completed or declined the mission. Completing the mission greatly increases the yield of research points for that day, but is not necessary to continue the research. The so-called "blueprint" missions assigned by standard agents no longer give out original (master) blueprints. To obtain originals, you will need to make use of the research service offered by agents in the research (R&D) divisions. By default, agents will perceive unaccepted missions as though they had been declined. To clarify, once the mission description is viewable in the journal, the standing will go down if the mission is not accepted. Mining missions from standard agents have been tweaked so that they no longer give out large sums of money for a small amount of minerals, i.e. their difficulty has increased. The higher the quality of the agent + the player's standing towards him and his corporation + the player's skill will raise the payment for these missions to make them more lucrative. At the same time, mining missions are more rare for non-mining corporation agents. Agents are now slightly more cordial to players with whom they have good standing and who are doing missions for them. Agent NPC kill missions, particularly the more challenging ones, are dispensed primarily by agents in military-type corporations. Players who wish to break the monotony of courier or mining missions are encouraged to build up a network of agents in military corporations to satisfy their combat bloodlust. Please do not confuse "corporation type" with the division the agent is in. A few scenario missions have been introduced that include a new item spawn feature. When an agent requests a specific item, a cargo container may spawn in space, retrievable only by the intended recepient. This change was made to prevent incessant camping of mission scenarios that made it more difficult for players to complete scenario missions. The player may not buy these items off the market to finish the mission. Not all scenario missions use this feature, but the majority will. Courier and kill missions that required the player to retrieve or deliver certain data sheets or reports now have a specific ItemID on the item in question. This means that if your agent wants you to bring him certain data sheets, you cannot simply buy generic data sheets off the market and submit them to him. Most agent missions now have a standard time bonus reward in the form of money, commodities or Tech Level 2 tools, skill packs or ingredients. Agent root texts have been modified so that they are standing-based, as well. Agent kill mission difficulty has been raised for level 2 and, moreso, for 3 agents. Mission NPC's, on average, drop better loot now. Most trade type missions have been changed to courier types. Most non-combat oriented missions are now configured purely for the agents in non-combat oriented corporations. Lots of new pirate and faction based missions have been added into the mission database.
market changes Market The market interface has been corrected so that "right-click + Buy" will always purchase the desired item at the selected location on the table or map view of the market. Order prices now have an accuracy to one hundredth of an ISK. NPC orders now have a maximum volume that they will show and process. They will also change slightly with each transaction to reflect the percentage of the desired supply or demand. Equivalent orders are handled in a strictly "first-in, first-out" manner. For a given match, the price of the newer order is chosen. For example, if an item is for sale at 10 ISK and someone enters a buy order at 20 ISK, the order will be matched at 20 ISK. Attempting to match an order with insufficient funds will result in a 10% fine. Buy access to the market will be suspended if fines are not paid. Prices of NPC orders vary continuously as a function of availability. NPC orders are created in chunks. Many of these changes dramatically alter the bidding strategies that players used in the past. Also note that with these changes, many popular and unsavory methods, sometimes known as "market griefing," become impossible.
updated ship technology SHIP TECHNOLOGY The armor repairer module has been reclassified as a low-slot item. On older model ships, it will stay fitted in medium slots and activation is possible. However, once removed from that medium slot, it will only be useable as a low slot fitting. Players can now toggle modules on their ships online and offline in-space, toggling a module online in-space costs 95% of maximum capacitor how ever. Warp Distance on rookie frigates has been increased to ~70 AU with their base capacitor. The ECCM Projector I has been augmented to provide increased duration and scan strength. A %5 bonus to cargo capacity and maximum velocity is available to industrial ships. The Apocalypse special ability "5% increase in capacitor recharge rate" has been changed into "5% bonus to capacitor capacity." This bonus will both enhance the capacitor and the capacitor's recharge rate. Industrials have increased power output so that they can be fitted with cruiser-sized afterburners and microwarp drives. To facilitate the intoduction of these modules to the ships, their cargo capacity has been increased. The Apocalypse, Armageddon and Megathron have received a boost in capacitor recharge rates. The Badger Mark II and Mammoth industrial ships have an extra low slot available. Afterburners and microwarp drive usage is based on ship mass when providing speed boosts, favoring lighter ships. Blueprints for these new modules are available on the market. Speed changes for cruisers: Moa increased to 160, Caracal decreased to 165, Blackbird decreased to 160. The warp core stabilizer I has been moved to a low slot and does not require manual activation. In order to reflect this change, owners of older ships are advised to remove the module from its current medium slot, then fit it into a low slot so that it will function properly. Targeting speed has been removed as a single attribute. Ships now have scan resolution available that calculates targeting time with the signature radius of the object being targeted. A progression bar has been added to display the targeting time. The base speed for Scorpions was reduced from 125 to 115 and has been given a slight mass increase. Pilots may notice that it handles a little bit slower and with less agility. The incorrect mass value of the Blackbird cruiser has been corrected to achieve a balance more in line with other ships of its class. Capacitor booster charge updates: cap booster charge 300 increased to 400 and cap booster charge 400 doubled to 800. Volume values have been reduced so that more of the larger charges may be carried. Large-sized hybrid weapons have undergone changes to correct the capacity for the 425mm railgun, which now has a smaller capacity, and the ion blaster cannon, which can now be fitted with more ammo. Large-sized projectile ammo and hybrid ammo have also decreased in volume and large turret capacity. As a result, pilots may elect to carry additional projectile and hybrid ammunition in their cargoholds for quick reloading. The Merlin frigate bonus description has been corrected to reflect the proper turret damage and maximum shield. When the capacity of a charged measure (capacitor or shield charge) is lowered and the amount of charge present is greater than the new capacity, the charge is immediately lowered to that level rather than remaining the same and discharging over time to the new level.
crime fighting NPCs Amarr Military and Police fleets have been removed from the Sanctum constellation, including the solar system Yulai. This area is controlled by CONCORD military and police officials. Bounty prices rewarded by CONCORD for killing NPC pirates has been increased for most pirates, particularly the lower level ones. Bigger, badder NPC pirates now lie in wait for those who wander too far from the protection of CONCORD. Cruiser-flying pirates may be spotted wandering in systems where security levels range from 0.0 - 0.4. Pirate-manned battleships, a beefier version of the player-owned ships, prowl in deep space. It is strongly suggested that players not attempt to fight these new breeds of villians without adequate wingmen and sound strategy. Station and stargate sentry guns are invulnerable to damage. They will still respond in the same way to direct damage, but splash damage to them will be ignored and not considered as a hostile act. Some NPC pirate types have the ability to use afterburners and microwarp drives during combat. In selected areas, sentry guns may respond agressively against those who lose standing with the faction that owns the solar system. This has eliminated instances where a player might kill a pirate that belonged to an NPC corp that was associated with the system's owner faction, resulting in an attack on the player by CONCORD sentry guns in the vicinity. The targeting speed of NPC cruiser pirates is longer to balance it with the player ship level. Faction police will attack those who enter their solar systems with a faction standing of -5.0 or lower.
advanced skills Skills New specialized ore refining skills have been added to the market. They will lessen the waste factor during the refining of specific ores. Smart bombs are affected by the weapon upgrades skill. The scout drone skill gives range bonus per level for drone usage. The bonus is set to 5000 meters per scout drone level. The Caldari battleship description has been corrected. Previously, it read under attributes that it gives 5% shield recharge rate per skill level. No ship command skills are suposed to give bonuses by themselves. The weapon upgrades skill now affects CPU usage for missile launchers.
weapon upgrades Combat Balance All Hybrid Charges and Frequency Crystals besides the high-end damaging type have been altered to decrease the capacitor usage of the turret shooting these charges, the same has been done with volume of Projectile allowing more of less damaging ammunition into turrets for less reloads. These changes will be to even the usability of the charges within same category. Medium and Large Energy Vampires and Energy Destabilizers are now available, these items can only be bought as blueprints from NPC Corporations for manufacturing but can be bought as items on the market from other players. Armor Platings and Shield Extenders have been increased in hitpoint value and reduced in requirements. Missile changes: missile brackets disappear immediately upon impact performance improved in big missile battles no more missile to missile collisions (except defender missiles) defender missile flight paths graphically enhanced and using the correct explosion area range of splash damage for missiles has been decreased Missiles can't push ships around so much anymore Projectile auto cannon damage multipliers fall off range increased. Small smart bombs are able to take out all missile types with the exception of torpedoes. To fascilitate this, the hit points for missiles have been lowered. Defender missiles have also been tuned to achieve balance in regard to these changes. Missile launcher speed has been decreased. M-12 standard launchers currently have a base speed of 14 seconds. H-50 heavy launchers and S-110 siege launchers have a base speed of 20 seconds. Cloaking while targeting others will result in the targets being unlocked. A bigger range bonus has been added for low-end projectile and hybrid ammo to be in synch with crystals. Slight range bonus boosts have been granted for carbonized lead, nuclear, photon-iron, tungsten, and iridium charges. To correct syncronization range imbalances with projectile and hybrid ammo, ultraviolet, x-ray, gamma and multifrequency crystals have now have bigger range penalities. To correct syncronization damage imbalances with turret charges, infrared, microwave, radio and multi-frequency crystals have been slighly downgraded. Damage from hybrid railgun turrets has been increased while firing speed has been decreased. They don't do much more damage over time, but will get heavier shots as they shoot slower. Optimal range, fall off and tracking speed is increased for all hybrid blaster turrets. Capsules no longer self-destruct immediately. A 2-minute delay has been implemented before the capsule explodes. Bystanders are informed about ship and capsule self-destruction to eliminate confusion about why self-destructing ships in combat have exploded. More detail has been added to the messages sent by CONCORD when a pilot's ship is destroyed. This information includes: who laid the final blow, what type of ship he was in, weaponry used, as well as the corporation affilition and security status of the perpetrator. The note will also name the system where the incident occurred and the security level of that system.
auto-cloak Navigation Mining drones are now faster to load and render. Mass has been tuned for all ships in order to accomodate the changes to afterburners and microwarp drives (MWD's). Cruisers and battleships now have more mass; frigates and industrials are lighter. Ship agility has not been adversely affected. Some pilots may find that the changes actually improves agility for them. If you successfully warp scramble someone who is in the warp alignment stage, their warp will be cancelled. The restriction that preventing ships from docking or jumping if they have been involved in a recent act of aggression no longer applies if if the ship has been destroyed and replaced by a capsule. Ships stop as they emerge from warping. Ships are automatically "cloaked," or rendered invisible, before jumping through gates. The effect lasts through the jump and arrival at the destination gate. The cloaking will dispel within a few moments or when navigation resumes. Cloaking will also occur for ships in space when the user has reentered the game world after a period of disconnection and ends either by timing out or initiating navigation. Stargate jumps are now gate-to-gate. Ships emerge beside the gate to the system from which they came. Stargates now light up at both ends when they are used. This allows players in the area to be aware of the possibility that a cloaked ship has arrived. Autopilot can be set to avoid systems where podding has recently occurred. Autopilot now avoids systems with security zones of 0.5 or less when "safe route" is selected. Selecting "less safe route" will set a course for 0.0 systems whenever possible.